Essie Introduces Nail Polish Vending Machines

ByHoma Zaryouni ·

24 July 2014

Essie, which has one of the highest rates of Instagram engagement among Beauty brands, just introduced another photo opportunity for fans. It announced plans to install vending machines at airports and malls in the US. The digital kiosks, which dispense 48 shades, are not the first makeup vending machines. Benefit Cosmetics installed vending machines at airports with products designed to freshen up flyers after a long flight, and L’Oréal placed a temporary vending machine with a full-length color-smart mirror on the New York subway last holiday season.

L2’s 2013 Digital IQ Index: Beauty found Essie to have the third most mentioned hashtag Beauty brands on Instagram after OPI and MAC with 781,666 mentions at the time of the study. (Currently, more than 1.5 million photos have been tagged with #Essie on Instagram.) Without contests or giveaways, Essie’s social success can be attributed to daily posts of new colors, celebrity photos, partnerships (Lucky Magazine, Piperlime, Baublebar), and featuring user-generated content. The Essie Instagram bio invites users to post their photos for a chance to be featured as a “Fan Look” on the blog.